The Residence London

... was.

Not fun at all.

Got on the Heathrow Express train to Paddington Station. Got a taxi to the apartments and I am SO GLAD I did! Dragging around my stuff would have been an absolute nightmare.

Got in another line at Great Dover Street Apartments, but they'd gotten all my documents so there were no problems getting my keys. I just had to wrestle my suitcases down a short ...

... Wont Get Fooled Again. Really cool.

I met a canadian girl named Cassie whos basically doing the same thing i'm doing. She works at one of the local pubs and after the gig we went back there along with one of Jon's mates. This very large matriarcal figure named Sarah. When we arrived there was a poker game going on, which i joined. It was only two quid and you get a set of chips. Though by this point in the evening i ...

... riding thru the parks and the weather was superb.



Every night until Thursday people from
the tour would depart diminishing our group numbers at the hostel bar
at least Heineken's were still only 1P. Friday 20th i pack
up and make the journey south to Wimbledon to stay with Zul, he takes
me to a local theater/cabaret performance. Not really knowing what to
expect i am quite surprised at how enjoyable it is, not ...

... Terminal 5 (much more quickly than the last time I was in Heathrow). We had decided that instead of wasting 5 or 6 hours at the airport, we would take a quick trip into the city. We took the tube to Picadilly Circus, and got some lunch at a pub. I had fish and chips with water, and Cory had some chicken fingers. After lunch we decided to visit Covent Gardens, and had a terrible time trying to find it, though we eventually did. It was pretty disappointing ...

... I bailed after we reached Hyde Park, there was going to be a rally and music and stuff, but it was freezing and looking like rain, so that's where my fighting spirit retired for the day and I hit Oxford St. and then made my way back. More social conscience activities tonight, as it's World Earth Day. Apparently Tower Bridge is being turned off for an hour, so I'm going to go out to see that. Hooray for an Aussie environmental inititive reaching here!

A very short flight down to London Heathrow was followed by almost as long having to wait for baggage and then the bus to take us to the Hertz hire car desk, but we made it and after checking the maps, were off on our way to Windsor. A trip that I thought might take up to 45 minutes was over in 15 and we found the perfect car park down by the river. Cue a lovely relaxing walk around the centre of Windsor, taking in the castle, river and a ...

... Market looking at the various bits and bobs on sale and continued to query each other's level of hunger, both of us looking for an excuse to try some of the food on offer. We grabbed a lamb curry - possibly not the best of choices since Carsten had just arrived from India so it was never really going to impress him. I bought some new guitar strings, then we trekked across town and jumped on the bus back home since by this point I was practically falling asleep standing up.

... it into the country. The boarder worker was anything but friendly and berated me for not knowing the address of the place where I would be staying, having physical copies of my return flight tickets, or even my cousin's phone number. He warned me thatI would have "Problems" if I didn't have the address for where I was staying the next time I flew into England. My cousin Ian picked me up along with his 18 month year old son Julius. It was really cool that I got to be the ...

After all our Swiss adventures, Mel and I returned to the Smith's (our cousins') house in Wimbledon to enjoy the roof over our heads, soft beds, showers, TV and fridge full of food. Luckily a friend of the family had spare grounds tickets to the last day of Wimbledon tennis which was taking place literally in their backyard. My cousin Dan, Mel and I went and sat in the stunning sunshine on Henman ...

Well, we made it across the pond. I think after two nights we are finally all caught up on sleep and adjusted to the local time; it is eight hours ahead of Portland and seven hours ahead of Boise. We have seen a ton already and aren't slowing down. The English pound or £ is double the American dollar, yet everything seems priced about the same as dollars so you don't know that you are spending twice as ...